San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee talked to the San Francisco Chronicle Editorial Board Monday August 8, 2011 on the day he announced he is running for mayor.
Ran on: 08-09-2011
Mayor Ed Lee speaks to The Chronicle's editorial board. Video at sfgate.com-blogs-opinionshop.
Ran on: 08-09-2011
Mayor Ed Lee speaks to The Chronicle's editorial board. Video at sfgate.com-blogs-opinionshop.

As much as I like all the credit I'm getting in the press, I really didn't have a whole lot to do with Ed Lee's final decision to run for mayor. From what I hear, that move was the result of a golf bet.

Make no mistake, I was certainly one of the people who brought Lee to the table. But let's not forget, none of this would have happened without Gavin Newsom being elected lieutenant governor and thus needing a replacement for the final year of his mayoral term.

Newsom didn't want anyone taking the job who would disturb his legacy. And he knew well that every one of the people being proposed by the progressives would take their marching orders from them and dismantle all he had accomplished over the previous seven years.

I've always been an Ed Lee fan. He's got hidden charisma, and he's a hardworking, blue-collar type of guy who after 20 years in government is still unaffected by all the BS.

In short, he's about as far from a "politician" as you can find.

Add in that he's Chinese American and had a genuine desire at the time to go back to his city administrator position once his term was up, and he was the perfect, non-threatening interim mayor.

Ironically, given the public's hunger for outsiders, being a nonpolitician also made Lee an ideal candidate.

It took a long time to get Newsom to buy in to the idea, but once he did it was virtually a done deal.

As for Lee changing his mind about running? That started out with Rose Pak and Enrique Pearce's "Run, Ed, Run" campaign, which brought a lot of people out of the woodwork.

Then Lee's family in Seattle got involved.

Finally, his older brother Manny, with whom he has a running golf rivalry, made him a bet: one round. You win, you don't run. You lose, you run.

We ended up with something like 1,000 people floating in and out. The hotel was charging $16.50 for a martini and $12 for an ordinary glass of wine. People took one look at the prices and started ducking across the street to the House of Shields.

At least we were able to deliver great free food.

It was such a good time that halfway through this cat comes over and says to me, "I'm from the event in the other room. Everybody seems to keep going to the bathroom but winding over here.

"Can we just shut our party down and all come on over?"

I hear there was a little get-together for Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Carmel the other night.

Clint Eastwood and a few other fans were in attendance. But the real attraction was the uncorking of an 1870 Chateau Lafite Rothschild, which goes for about $30,000.

I'm hearing a lot of rumbles out of Ohio over the White House's foot-dragging in the just-concluded election campaign over killing collective bargaining for state workers.

Repeated request for visits and endorsements went unanswered until the Friday before the election.

By then, the local Democrats and unions knew they were going to win and basically said, "Thanks, but no thanks."

Movie time: "Tower Heist." Eddie Murphy's new vehicle. A preposterous but totally entertaining caper movie that will keep you laughing from beginning to end.